The U.K. agreed to hand sovereignty of the long-contested Chagos Islands, an archipelago of more than 60 islands in the Indian Ocean, to Mauritius.

British foreign secretary says agreement will secure future of base at Diego Garcia, largest in chain of remote islands off tip of India

The agreement ends decades of dispute over Britain’s last African colony, from which thousands of people were forcibly evicted, while maintaining a key U.S.-British military base there.